Series of Promo Videos I made at DVinfo.net

Trent Watts · January 9th, 2012, 11:29 PM

I completed these promo videos a couple months ago for a private school in Maryland. I did one for each division of the school and let me tell you it was one hell of an editing job. I shot about 8 hours of b-roll, 10 hours of interview footage, and sorted through a couple thousand archived quicktime movies. Then I edited all this down into 3 videos of about 7 minutes each. It was all shot on a 60D with various lenses. Regrettably, I used the 28-135mm kit lens to shoot most of the video and only learned the true power of the L Series lenses about halfway through. As it was a months-long process. First, I edited all the interviews together, then made a shot-list of b-roll shots. Most of the interviews were done on the kit lens, while the b-roll was done on the 24-105mm L series and a Tokina 11-16mm wide.

The videos are all at this website I just set up for my new production company. http://WattsMP.com

If you just watch one, I think the lower school one is best. Let me know what you think, especially regarding the pacing and editing.

Mark Ahrens · January 10th, 2012, 07:54 AM

Well, i thought the pacing was quite good. It moved along nicely and seamlessly.
The only critique i'd have was that i thought it was just a little long. By about one minute. I started losing interest. And it could have used a bit of color adjustment - some yellow & blue casting on some shots.

I noticed some tight shots in the interviews, then immediately wide . . . did you shoot 2 cameras on all interviews? How did you handle audio, all interviews were good and consistent.

Nice piece, i'm sure the school is happy with it.

Trent Watts · January 10th, 2012, 03:29 PM

Thanks for your feedback Mark, I agree the videos are a bit too long. It just got harder and harder to cut things out as the video got shorter, as one interview often connects directly to the next in some fashion.

For the interviews, I only used one camera, but occasionally adjusted the shot with quick zooms (and quick focus-checking), knowing that I'd be using a lot of b-roll to cover up the zooms.

For audio, I just used wireless lav mics and an H4N audio recorder.

Jordan Brindle · January 11th, 2012, 01:28 PM

I thought you made the school look fantastic, the pace and feel were fine, exactly what i'd expect from a lower school promo. The cutaways and variety kept me interested well past the half way mark, and considering im young with no kids, that's pretty darn good ;)

I would say just make it shorter somehow. I know its really hard to shorten something when you have SO much usable and decent footage, you want to use it all, but part of being a good video editor is knowing what to cut and when. Good luck with your future endeavors!

Warren Kawamoto · January 12th, 2012, 11:54 AM

I loved your interview shots, they looked terrific! I also loved your audio, it's very clean throughout. On the other hand, I didn't like your hand held cutaways, it's too shaky and ruined the piece for me. In this instance, shaky video tied to a higher learning concept did not match. A shaky video might have matched with a music video or something with a playful concept. I did like your dolly shots and everything that was done from tripod. After watching about 3 minutes of the last video, I thought it was long enough, and didn't get to finish watching it. My suggestion would be to shorten it by half, and take out all those shaking shots. The impact would be far greater!

John Friedman · January 12th, 2012, 01:03 PM

I agree. Love the interview shots and super clean audio. Very impressed with that. Only two quibbles I have would be the color grading of the outdoor shots, that "yellow and blue casting" is pretty noticeable. Also the length. It definitely could be edited down to around half the run time. I think if you could accomplish that it would dramatically affect the pacing and consequently make the video even more interesting. Good job so far!

Myles Williams · January 16th, 2012, 09:49 PM

As a parent who is looking for a tutor and or new school for his 6th grader....I loved it ! Yeah like some others said about the shaky video etc..but if I were spending money on a school.....and writing the CHECK....this video gets the message across just fine. For the purpose.....it works well. Very nice work !

Dont listen to me though I shoot race cars !

Mw

Trent Watts · January 18th, 2012, 02:58 PM

Jordan - Thank you!

Warren - Thanks for the useful feedback, I agree about both your suggestions

John - Thanks, you're the 3rd of 4th person to say it could be shortened by half..noted... : ) . I may have gone overboard on some of the color correcting, though sometimes felt like I couldn't see the forest through the trees. It was the same with the audio. I worked very hard on adjusting and making eq tweaks on the audio track.

Myles - another shaky video comment. I think a large part of this comment has to do with the fact that the shaky shot of the male teacher is one of the first b-roll shots and maybe the shakiest shot of all 3 videos. It was one of the only shots of a male teacher in the lower school so I just had to use it.

Thanks for the feedback everyone!

January 9th, 2012, 11:29 PM	#1
Trent Watts New Boot Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Washington, D.C. Posts: 24	Series of Promo Videos I made I completed these promo videos a couple months ago for a private school in Maryland. I did one for each division of the school and let me tell you it was one hell of an editing job. I shot about 8 hours of b-roll, 10 hours of interview footage, and sorted through a couple thousand archived quicktime movies. Then I edited all this down into 3 videos of about 7 minutes each. It was all shot on a 60D with various lenses. Regrettably, I used the 28-135mm kit lens to shoot most of the video and only learned the true power of the L Series lenses about halfway through. As it was a months-long process. First, I edited all the interviews together, then made a shot-list of b-roll shots. Most of the interviews were done on the kit lens, while the b-roll was done on the 24-105mm L series and a Tokina 11-16mm wide. The videos are all at this website I just set up for my new production company. http://WattsMP.com If you just watch one, I think the lower school one is best. Let me know what you think, especially regarding the pacing and editing.

January 10th, 2012, 07:54 AM	#2
Mark Ahrens Major Player Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Plantation, FL Posts: 239	Re: Series of Promo Videos I made Well, i thought the pacing was quite good. It moved along nicely and seamlessly. The only critique i'd have was that i thought it was just a little long. By about one minute. I started losing interest. And it could have used a bit of color adjustment - some yellow & blue casting on some shots. I noticed some tight shots in the interviews, then immediately wide . . . did you shoot 2 cameras on all interviews? How did you handle audio, all interviews were good and consistent. Nice piece, i'm sure the school is happy with it. __________________ Mark Ahrens www.heritagefilms.net

January 10th, 2012, 03:29 PM	#3
Trent Watts New Boot Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Washington, D.C. Posts: 24	Re: Series of Promo Videos I made Thanks for your feedback Mark, I agree the videos are a bit too long. It just got harder and harder to cut things out as the video got shorter, as one interview often connects directly to the next in some fashion. For the interviews, I only used one camera, but occasionally adjusted the shot with quick zooms (and quick focus-checking), knowing that I'd be using a lot of b-roll to cover up the zooms. For audio, I just used wireless lav mics and an H4N audio recorder.

January 11th, 2012, 01:28 PM	#4
Jordan Brindle Major Player Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: UK Posts: 249	Re: Series of Promo Videos I made I thought you made the school look fantastic, the pace and feel were fine, exactly what i'd expect from a lower school promo. The cutaways and variety kept me interested well past the half way mark, and considering im young with no kids, that's pretty darn good ;) I would say just make it shorter somehow. I know its really hard to shorten something when you have SO much usable and decent footage, you want to use it all, but part of being a good video editor is knowing what to cut and when. Good luck with your future endeavors!

January 12th, 2012, 11:54 AM	#5
Warren Kawamoto Trustee Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Honolulu, HI Posts: 1,435	Re: Series of Promo Videos I made I loved your interview shots, they looked terrific! I also loved your audio, it's very clean throughout. On the other hand, I didn't like your hand held cutaways, it's too shaky and ruined the piece for me. In this instance, shaky video tied to a higher learning concept did not match. A shaky video might have matched with a music video or something with a playful concept. I did like your dolly shots and everything that was done from tripod. After watching about 3 minutes of the last video, I thought it was long enough, and didn't get to finish watching it. My suggestion would be to shorten it by half, and take out all those shaking shots. The impact would be far greater!

January 12th, 2012, 01:03 PM	#6
John Friedman Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Snellville, Ga Posts: 34	Re: Series of Promo Videos I made I agree. Love the interview shots and super clean audio. Very impressed with that. Only two quibbles I have would be the color grading of the outdoor shots, that "yellow and blue casting" is pretty noticeable. Also the length. It definitely could be edited down to around half the run time. I think if you could accomplish that it would dramatically affect the pacing and consequently make the video even more interesting. Good job so far!

January 16th, 2012, 09:49 PM	#7
Myles Williams Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Baltimore, Maryland Posts: 104	Re: Series of Promo Videos I made As a parent who is looking for a tutor and or new school for his 6th grader....I loved it ! Yeah like some others said about the shaky video etc..but if I were spending money on a school.....and writing the CHECK....this video gets the message across just fine. For the purpose.....it works well. Very nice work ! Dont listen to me though I shoot race cars ! Mw

January 18th, 2012, 02:58 PM	#8
Trent Watts New Boot Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Washington, D.C. Posts: 24	Re: Series of Promo Videos I made Jordan - Thank you! Warren - Thanks for the useful feedback, I agree about both your suggestions John - Thanks, you're the 3rd of 4th person to say it could be shortened by half..noted... : ) . I may have gone overboard on some of the color correcting, though sometimes felt like I couldn't see the forest through the trees. It was the same with the audio. I worked very hard on adjusting and making eq tweaks on the audio track. Myles - another shaky video comment. I think a large part of this comment has to do with the fact that the shaky shot of the male teacher is one of the first b-roll shots and maybe the shakiest shot of all 3 videos. It was one of the only shots of a male teacher in the lower school so I just had to use it. Thanks for the feedback everyone!